This invention is related to training devices and more particularly to a training device to improve physical performance.
There are many physical activities such as tennis, baseball, softball, football, and soccer that require multiple athletes in order to practice. If one wants to practice alone, the process involves time and effort retrieving balls after they are thrown, kicked, or struck. As an example, punting a football alone might require one to traverse back and forth thirty to sixty yards over and over. Further, most practice requires an outdoor field, fenced or netted area, or a large indoor facility that are not always available or cost-effective.
Devices that reduce the distance an object travels after being hit or thrown are known in the art. For instance, Wolfe (U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,979) discloses a golf ball that has an attachment device that passes a series of loops through the center of the golf ball and to a parachute some distance away that prevents the ball from traveling farther once it is struck.
Despite its advantages, this device and others like it, problems remain.
In particular, these devices only slow the velocity of the object after it has been struck, kicked, or thrown. As such, these devices do not provide any additional resistance to the athlete during the act of throwing or striking. Resistance training is common in physical training regimes because it has been found to increase the athlete's strength. Therefore, training is not maximized by not applying the addition resistance to the body of the athlete throughout the mechanics of throwing the ball or swinging the racket, bat, club, etc.
Other training devices have addressed some of these deficiencies. For example, DeMarini et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,838) discloses a drogue chute that is attached to a baseball bat by a belt sleeve that wraps around the top portion of the baseball bat and extends outwards a distance from the bat and attaches to suspension lines that ultimately lead to a chute. Although this device and others like it provide some degree of air resistance when a baseball bat is swung, they too suffer from a number of deficiencies.
In particular, the distance from the baseball bat to the chute reduces the effectiveness of the training device as the swing of the bat is partially completed before the chute is filled with air to provide air resistance to the athlete. Further, the applicability of such a device is ineffective on balls as the belt sleeve would interrupt the athlete's ability to grip the ball properly. Further still, the belt sleeve is not durable enough to operate on a ball that is being struck, as it would loosen and disengage from the ball, rendering the chute system useless for its strengthening aspects and retrieval aspects. In addition to these deficiencies, the prior art designs are cumbersome, require numerous parts and components, often require long suspension cables that can become entangled when used or stored, and often require highly destructive methods to implement. As such, a training device is desired that addresses these deficiencies.
Thus it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a training device that improves upon the state of the art.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that reduces the distance traveled when thrown, kicked, or struck.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that increases the strength of the athlete by increasing the air resistance applied when the training device is thrown, kicked, or struck.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that can be used inside.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that increases resistance. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that does not require the use of nets or fences.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that maximizes air resistance.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device improves the use of training time.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that removes the need for weighted training devices,
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that forces athletes to drive through the motions of sound body mechanics. Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that does not inhibit the grip of the athlete during use.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that improves athletic performance over the use of regulation sports implements during training.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a training device that is cost effective, user friendly, and simple to make.
These and other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification and claims.